Uncle Tom’s Cabin; or, Life Among the Lowly – Harriet Beecher Stowe
This is a novel that stands apart for its role in the political history of the United States of America. Though the novel has inspired numerous plays and created colored-stereotypes, it is nothing more than a sentimental evangelizing rant. The novel stands no acclaim from a literary critic. Still it is a must read for historical and political reasons.
The book offers the brilliant and sincere portrayal of the slavery. No wonder it shook the strong pillars the evil was standing on at the time. But where ever there is a religious overtone, the characters look larger than life. 5 or 6 year old Eva is way too mature to believe. Uncle Tom himself, to my utter surprise, declines to escape from a dreadful fate, quoting the Bible talking about the servants and the masters.
George Harris, the most reverent of all I would say, turns to be a Christian towards the end. All good characters either are or turn to be one towards the end. But there are characters like St. Clare and Mrs Shelby, whose spiritual journeys are strong yet silent. Barring Eva and Uncle Tom, the strength everybody else draw from the Bible is understandable and impressive.
Ironically, the most famous person who drew his inspiration from this book and eventually led to the end of slavery in the US, Abraham Lincoln, remained a skeptic all his life. His war against slavery was more philosophical than religious.
“Whenever this question shall be settled, it must be settled on some philosophical basis. No policy that does not rest upon some philosophical public opinion can be permanently maintained.” ~ Lincoln on slavery
Though slammed by critics as a “Sunday School Fiction”, its influence in the history of America is irrefutable. The book commands a read for the same reason. Keep the literature lover in you at bay, never mind the catechism and you will love it for what Abraham Lincoln loved it.
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